But there had to be more people in the revenuer’s plan. Silas hadn’t picked her up at the station that night. He had met her back at the hotel, which meant the group of people behind this had more eyes than just the ones at the police station. She supposed the Smith man could have been watching at the hotel that night. Regardless, she now felt sure there were more people involved in this than the few in the cabin that day.
Emmie twisted her ring on her finger as she thought. She had to find Silas to tell him he was right. Yesterday he had told Trick he thought a police officer might be involved because they’d had a harder time covering this up. Not only did she need to tell him he was right, she needed to give him a description of the two men who paid off the Smith guy the night of the Halloween party.
As she walked back through the house looking for Silas, she froze in the entry hall. Something outside caught her eye.
“No,” she whispered to herself. A car was pulling out of the driveway. She ran to the door and thrust it open. A blast of frozen winter air greeted her. He was leaving her without a goodbye.
She ran out of the house down the driveway. The frozen bricks were cold and rough, scraping the soles of her feet as she chased after his car, waving her hands in an attempt to stop him.
“Silas,” she shouted.
She would have missed him if he hadn’t slowed down to maneuver between two cars blocking his way to the street. He looked startled as he saw her running up to his car. He pulled to an abrupt stop in the middle of the road. Emmie pulled open the door.
“You’re just leaving me, Silas? Without even saying goodbye?” Okay that wasn’t what she meant to say, but it was the first thing that popped out of her mouth.
His mouth dangled open for a moment before he turned the engine off and got out of the car. Silas was fully dressed in a three-piece suit, shiny shoes, and a hat, the whole package. She crossed her arms around her body as she stood there in her bare feet and thin dressing robe.
“Emmie, you need to take a breath for a second and calm down. The sun has only just started to rise; I thought you’d still be asleep. Is everything okay?” he asked, looking back toward the house as if he expected more people to run outside in their pajamas.
“You were really gonna just leave me here, Silas, without a goodbye, without any mention of my friends and your plan to help them?” she repeated.
“I left you a note. I thought you were asleep. Emmie, I don’t have time for this right now. We have a train to catch,” he said, annoyed.
Emmie heard Trick laughing inside the car. Silas kicked the door closed with his foot. Stealing a glance in the car Emmie noticed it wasn’t only Trick in the car. Vincent and Al were squeezed into the backseat.
“I wasn’t asleep. I was making breakfast for you,” she said, realizing that she sounded like a complete ninny.
“Emma, I don’t have time for this right now.” His patience was wearing thin.
Her robe flapped around her legs as a frigid blast of winter air moved around them.
“Silas I can help you. I know someone who is involved,” she said, shivering.
“Who?” he asked, staring down at her.
“Remember at the Halloween party when I was arrested? Remember the Smith man that trapped me?” Her teeth chattered as she continued. “He told me at the cabin that they were baiting you.”
Silas unbuttoned his coat and pulled her into him, wrapping the flaps of his thick black coat around her. “You are going to catch your death out here. I’m going to never make it back to help your friends because I’m going to be stuck up here at your funeral,” he muttered. “I’d already put that together. Smith is dead, Emmie. I promise you that.”
Emmie leaned back and looked up at him. She shook her head. “No, I know he’s dead. I’m not talking about him. Smith took us to two men. I know those men were waiting for us. I’m sure of it. Remember that night when you came back, how you were so mad, convinced our arrest was more than just an unfortunate coincidence? You were right. The men waiting for us outside that tunnel were police officers and they paid him off. I saw him take money from them. Those two police officers have to be involved in all this. One was about your height with blond hair. The other was shorter with a big round belly. That’s all I can remember, but I thought it might help you. They might not be the ones starting the fires, but I guarantee you they are involved. In the cabin, Will was dressed in the very same uniform they had on that night.”
Silas nodded and thought through her words. He didn’t say anything at first. He just leaned forward and kissed her forehead softly. Someone beat on the window as if to say hurry up.
When he pulled away from her, he brushed a strand of sleep-matted hair from her face. “I love you, Mo Chuisle, but I do have to go. Your information is helpful.”
“If you take me with you, I’ll stay out of your way. I could help you identify the men,” she said as he pulled away from her. The bitter cold wind ripped through her again as she left the warmth of his coat.
“Never going to happen, Emmie. Get in the house before you catch your death out here. I’ll give you a call this week,” he said, lowering himself into the car.
“Silas, please. I want to go home. You cannot just leave me up here with no way to get home when my friends are in trouble,” she pleaded with him, tears pricking her eyes.
“I will take you home when it is safe.” He reached out the door, grabbed her ring, and gave her a level stare. “I promise you I’ll be back soon. You promise me to stay out of Bowling Green.”
“Silas, please,” she said but the door was already closed. She smacked the window with the palm of her hand. “Please, don’t leave me here alone,” she begged.
He pulled away, picking up speed as he headed down the road, leaving her barefoot and alone in Ava’s driveway.
Chapter Thirty-six
All four of the men were silent as they pulled away from the house. Trick turned and glanced behind them and then looked at his brother.
“That went well,” he sighed and turned to face the front. “When you return home I’m not sure little ball of trouble is going to be an accurate description of her. I’m thinking it’ll be something more along the lines of little devil’s sphere of wrath and fury.”
“Dry it up, Trick.” Silas worked hard to form the words and speak them aloud.
He couldn’t believe how he felt right now. He should have been able to drive away from that house feeling nothing but satisfaction because he had done the right thing. He had made the right choice to keep her safe. He had done exactly what needed to be done. There was no way she could go back to Kentucky right now. So, if he had done the right thing, why was his heart in his throat? He felt like he’d been sucker-punched as he watched her standing there in the driveway, begging him to take her. Damn it, he needed to get it together. He fought back the pain and swallowed hard, never taking his eyes off the road.
“Emmie’s a curious girl but you’re doing the right thing for her,” Al said from the back seat.
“Yeah, I’m leaving her alone and barefoot in your driveway, begging me for something I won’t give her. I’m a real stand-up guy.”
Trick looked over at his brother. “Do you think she will stay in Chicago?”
“I left her with no money to ensure she had no way to get home,” Silas said, keeping all trace of emotion from his voice.
“Do you think that will stop her?” Vincent asked.
“There’s not a person in that house crazy enough to buy her a ticket home when she would be in so much danger there,” Silas answered.
*
Emmie couldn’t say how long she stood in the driveway. She no longer felt the cold air, only the hollow feeling in her chest. She looked down at her ring and screamed in the direction of the car that was now completely out of sight.
“Damn you and your empty promises, Silas McDowell. I promise you nothing,” she shouted with her fists clenched at her sides. “I promise you nothing.”
With that she turned and walked into the house. As soon as she entered the smell of burning biscuits engulfed her. She ran to the kitchen to find a man bent over the oven, pulling them out.
“I am so sorry. I completely forgot I’d put them in . . .” she said, but her voice trailed off as the older man turned around to face her. He dropped the black biscuits on the counter and looked at her with a concerned expression.
Emmie pulled out a kitchen chair and turned her back to him, mumbling to herself, “Of course I see you here. As if this morning couldn’t get any better.”
She sat at the table and hated the tears escaping her eyes. These people didn’t deserve her tears, yet here she was crying buckets for them.
To her surprise the older man pulled out a chair next to hers and sat down. She peeked up and saw he sat stone-sober with his chin rested in his hands. He didn’t look at her as he began to speak.
“Your mother always made biscuits when she was upset. It could be the middle of the night and she’d be in the kitchen making biscuits,” Marco Del Grandé said softly.
Emmie gritted her teeth as she said, “Well you sure would know about upsetting her, wouldn’t you? You are a sorry excuse for a man, you know that?”
Marco only nodded for a moment before he said, “I suppose I am but you should know I loved Ruby.”
“Loved her? You call what you did to her love? You have no right to talk to me about my mother, Mr. Del Grandé,” she shouted, looking him right in the eye. She had no patience left today for lying men.
He turned and looked at her. “You can be mad at me. But you do need to know that we loved one another. When you were first born, before everything got all messed up, it was one of the happiest times of my life. I was as happy with your birth as I was with Gabe’s. You deserve to know that.”
“Oh yeah? How is knowing that supposed to help me? I know you lied to her. Your wife told me that you told my mother you were a widower. Well buddy, in case you didn’t know, a widower means your wife is dead. Your wife was very much alive in that hospital. Suffering from a horrible loss. You are talking about being happy when Gabe and I were born but what about that baby you lost? Did you not feel the proper emotions at that one, Mr. Del Grandé? It sounds like when things got tough you went and forced yourself on my mother.” She couldn’t believe the hateful words that had just come out of her mouth. Emmie could tell by the look on his face she had said too much.
He stood, towering over her and gritted his teeth. “I know I have hurt you with my absence in your life. But you speak of things you know nothing about, girl. We all feel pain differently. I assure you I mourned the loss of your sister,” he said, emphasizing the word sister. “We all process pain differently, Emma. Your mother grew to understand that. I suppose that is part of the reason she eventually forgave my lies.”
Emmie couldn’t believe her mother had ever forgiven him. She opened her mouth to tell him so but he continued talking.
“I know my wife told you a little about the truth of your past, but there is more,” he said, attempting to calm down.
“I think I’ve decided ignorance is bliss. I don’t want to know more about my past with you people,” she said, standing to grab her coffee cup from earlier. She was done with this conversation and this man.
As she reached the door he spoke again, “It wasn’t completely a lie you know.”
“What wasn’t a lie, Mr. Del Grandé?” she asked, her voice full of anger.
“When I said I was a widower, I partly meant it. I thought my wife was gone. She had been out of her mind for months. You’ve talked to her. She is better, but a part of her died with that baby. The day I met your mother I honestly thought she was gone forever. I swear that to you, Emma,” he said.
She didn’t know how to reply to that so she stood there for a moment with her back to him and said nothing. After a quiet moment, he spoke again.
“There is nothing I can do to make up for my past or my absence from your life when you needed me. But I can tell you that you do have other family. Not just the Del Grandés, but your mother’s family, the Sloan’s. You are not alone. They are still alive and live in Kentucky. I can help you find them when you are ready.”
Emmie jerked her head around, saying on impulse, “My mom has family members still living?”
He nodded. “Yes, near Louisville.”
Emmie chewed her lip. “Will you take me now?”
He stepped away from her and sighed. “Emma, I’ll take you but I’m not sure now is a good time.”
Emmie swallowed hard and found the courage to speak. “Please,” she pleaded in a softer voice, “take me to meet them. I need this Marco.”
Lord help her, she was being a user. She had no intention of meeting her mother’s family on this trip. If there was one thing she’d learned about the choices her mother had made in the past, it was if her mother kept her away from people, she must have had a good reason for doing so. Emmie was not ready to learn about any more skeletons in her mother’s closet. Marco Del Grandé rubbed his chin and thought for a moment before he spoke. Just when she was sure he was going to say no, he nodded in agreement.
Chapter Thirty-seven
Emmie couldn’t remember the last time she had packed so quickly. She knew she was leaving things behind, but she didn’t care. As she walked out of the bedroom, she noticed an envelope on the floor in the middle of the doorway. Silas had mentioned leaving her a note. He must have slid it under the door thinking she was still asleep before he left the house. A small part of her wanted to leave the letter where it rested, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She dropped it into her purse and left the bedroom.
She made it downstairs before Marco. She found that waiting on a bench in the entry hall gave her too much time to doubt herself. She toyed with the idea of reading the letter but wasn’t ready to hear his excuses for leaving her yet. She stood and paced the length of the hall. Something inside her shouted she was a fool for leaving the safety of this house. Her heart beating faster, thinking of the last time Silas had been worried about her safety. She wasn’t eager to be shoved in the back of a car again but, with Mr. Thomas gone, she doubted she was at the top of anyone’s folks to kidnap list. As afraid as she felt to go, she was more scared not to go. Something in her gut told her she needed to get back home. These men had burned-down Silas’s businesses and she probably would have let him go down and handle that one alone. But these guys had messed with her friend’s property. What if Bo or his sister had been in that cabin? What if Spotty had been in there?
Marco met her after only a few minutes. Neither of them spoke on the drive to Chicago. She wished there weren’t so many miles between her and her friends. She figured it was just as well because she needed time to think of how she was going to get from Louisville to Bowling Green. She closed her eyes and rested her head on the back of the seat. Nothing came to her. She was going to have to tell Marco the truth at some point but she couldn’t do it yet. He might turn the car around and take her right back to Ava’s house.
When they arrived at the station it was busy and crowded. Fortunately she and Marco had missed the earlier train and wouldn’t be on the same one as Silas. She was sure if he caught sight of her in the station, he would have been furious. She didn’t plan to give that man a piece of her mind until they had reached Kentucky.
Somehow Marco Del Grandé had managed to secure a fairly nice private car on the train. The same awkward quiet they had experienced in the car continued on the train. They had spoken little more than an excuse me or thank you since leaving the house. Emmie bit her lip as she watched the world speed by her from the window of the moving car. Guilt was settling in her stomach. She was going to have to tell him the truth about why she’d run off with him. Emmie had always been this way. When she had done something bad as a child she’d never gotten away with it. She’d always told on herself. She looked over at Marco. Wrinkles creased his eyes and two deep lines formed in h
is brow as he picked at a loose thread on his pants. She didn’t have to ask him to know that taking some kid he barely claimed as his own to Kentucky to meet her family was not something he wanted to do today.
Emmie sighed and looked up at her father. “I’m just going to say this because I’m sitting here feeling bad about it.”
Marco’s eyebrow arched in question but he didn’t say a word.
“I don’t know for sure if I want to meet the Sloan family,” she said, skirting the truth.
“I would say that’s to be expected. It makes sense you’d be nervous about meeting them. They will be surprised to see you. I am not sure if they ever knew your mother had a child. They aren’t bad people exactly . . . your mother just . . .” She could tell he was searching for the right words.
“What do you mean they aren’t bad people exactly?” Emmie frowned.
“Your mother just didn’t want you around any kind of unpleasantness and they could be a rough sort. Ironically, in the end it was the same reason she gave for taking you away from us,” Marco said, lost in his thoughts.
Emmie rubbed her eyes. It was barely noon and she was exhausted. Whatever the Sloan story was, her mother was protecting her from something. She wasn’t saying she never wanted to meet these people but she didn’t want to meet them right now. Her plate was full. Looking down at her hands, she wondered how she was going to tell Marco that she had used him as a means to get back home. She twisted the promise ring on her finger, as she thought.
“Did Silas give you that ring?” Marco asked.
“Yeah,” she answered truthfully.
He didn’t say anything but she could see his brain working. He just nodded.
Emmie realized Marco Del Grandé was the first person to ask her about the promise ring Silas had given her. How odd. Not that it mattered much because, judging by how she felt right now, the next time she saw Silas she might shove his ring and his promises right up his nose.
Come Rain or Shine (Shine On Series, Book Three) Page 18
